The Hills Season Premiere

The two-part season 5 premiere of The Hills was complete entertainment. From a pissed off mother-Montag, to sobbing drunk girls on a yaht, to a bar fight over a promiscious bartender. The fake reality show left no dramatic stone unturned. The questions in my head are bubbling. Will Heidi dump Spencer? Will Heidi mend things with Lauren? When did everything revolve around silicone Heidi? Is Heidi going to be the season 6 narrarator? Is it possible that I've had more thoughts about their lives than they've had about their own? Check out episodes you've missed at http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/the_hills/series.jhtml

Meg and Dia {Media Literacy}

Meg and Dia's final stop on their tour was in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Launchpad. The opening bands were: Good with Grenades, Endless Hallway, Shoot My Cupid and Avenge Apollo. Besides the crude-pedophiliac comments bu the Good with Grenades guitarist and the high school girl passing out in the middle of a song, the concert was good. The small Launchpad venue provided an intimate setting. Despite their exhaustion, Meg and Dia's energy was amazing and inspiring. Check out their new CD "Here, Here and Here" which is available on their website http://www.meganddia.com/home for pre-prder and is available everywhere April 21st, 2009. Also, be sure to look up the artists I mentioned on http://www.myspace.com/ or on iTunes.

Alli is a weight loss pill that claims to not allow fat to stay in your body. They try to hide the side effects which I put on the add and that they suggest that you wear dark pants because of these side effects.

Durango Independent Film Festival {Media Literacy}

My favorite documentary, at the Durango Independent Film Festival, was "1,000 Journals". It was a about a guy, who goes by Someguy, an artist who came up with the idea to send out 1,000 journals around the world. He started a website to find people who wanted to receive the journals and to keep track of them. The demand was overwhelming. Someguy designed each journal with his artwork, which made them hard to let go. He asked people who received the journals to let him know where it was and if they could to scan what was in the book and post it via the website. He received a small amount back, full of peoples thoughts, artwork, rants and raves. The rest are still traveling, we can only hope. Someguy scanned all the work onto the website and when he had enough he created an exhibit where the attendees could touch and look through the journals. As a result of the 1,000 Journals Project a website started called 1001 Journals where individuals can start journals of their own that they either send out, keep at a public location or they just post their own personal journal. Right now there are 6033 members on the site (Including me), 573 personal journals, 1810 traveling journals, 105 locational journals and 1004 journals that have posts on the website. This is HUGE.

Merchants of Cool {Media Literacy}

The way that corporations get teenagers to buy products is a lot more complicated then I ever thought. It makes sense though. It was always very noticeable that when something was cool you had to like it but it quickly stopped being cool because everyone liked it. This movie shows the planning and scheming it takes marketers to make their products appealing to the teenage generation, like having focus groups to ask kids what is cool and what is not and going out on the street and find up and coming styles that can be sold to teenagers because it isn't popular yet so they'll be able to sell more of it before it goes out of style. So what is happening is these Merchants of Cool are taking individuality and making it popular and by doing that killing that style. It is said that corporate America has created a character to appeal to male youth. The mook is a guy who acts like a jackass, just like the show on MTV. They're saying that boys follow the actions that they see on TV because they are portrayed as cool, but you also have to think that this mook was created in the image of these young men, this is what they want to see and so that is what is going to make money. On the other hand for girls there is the Midriff who is "prematurely adult", she is sexual and is proud of it. An example of this is Britney Spears, she started out when she was 16 in a very sexual filled music video. The quote "flaunt your sexuality even if you don't understand it" made me think a lot. I'm not sure what to think of it, but it's stuck in my head. Corporations soon learned that sex sells, ex. Dawson's Creek, 90210, and Cruel Intentions. The questioned is then asked, does tv mirror teenagers, is it the other way around, or is it too blurred to tell?

Consumption Log {Media Literacy}

On February 15th, 2009 I logged all the media I was subjected to or subjected myself to throughout the day. I woke up at 9:30am to my very annoying VZW Default Ringtone on my Verizon VCast phone. I turned off the alarm and saw that I revieved two text messages at 8:00am while I was sleeping, the first on from VPOP and Buzz Entertainment news. I drove to work at 10:30am and listened to my Charlotte Sometimes CD. As I drove to work I saw very familiar signs flooding the sides of the road: McDonalds, Wellsfargo, Albertsons, Office Max, Big 5, and Serious Texas BBQ. I got to my job at the Alltel kiosk in the Durango Mall. The Mall radio station is set on Sirius XM channel 26, they played news on Lilly Allen, then songs by Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, Barenaked Ladies, Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillet, Nickelback, Katy Perry, Kid Rock, P!nk, Kelly Clarkson and then there was some more entertainment news and then it started all over again. I work right next to a WaldenBooks so I went over there and bought a book called Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand that I have to read for a scholarship. I went on Facebook for about an hour and then FastWeb Scholarship search. I looked around the mall and read all the signs: JC Penny, FYE, Maurices, Claire's, Bealls, Famous Footwear, Walden Books, GNC, Kay Jewelers, Pac Sun, Vanity and Zumiez. When I left work I drove back to the dorms and listened to Charlotte Sometimes. I got back to the dorms and turned the tv onto Disney Channel and did my Art homework until 7:00pm when I changed the channel to fuse and watched FUSE20 and then at 8:00 I watched Fools Gold till 10:00 and then I went to bed.

Versa Visa {Media Literacy}

Last night I went to see a Durango local band in the Extreme Room of the Sub Cub on Fort Lewis campus. I didn't really know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. The lead singer had a hint of 311 mixed with Thrice in his voice but more of a Soasin type of music backing him up. The guitarist added a lot of vocals to the mix, including some very impressive screaming. The drummer was intense, in a fun way and the bassist played a few technical solos between songs. This concert was free, but I would pay to see them again. They have no facebook or myspace page which is a shame, but if you see flyers on campus or around town I suggest you make time in your schedule to check them out. I will post concert dates on this blog if I see any as well.